An upset motorist has accused the city council of defrauding the public.
Stephen Hainey (58) blasted the local authority after discovering the city’s parking attendants have been instructed not to issue fines to cars parked in bays on Union Street.
It is understood this is due to the bays not being the correct size, and as a result the authority is not allowed to fine people.
Drivers are, however, still eligible to be hit with a penalty for parking outwith the bays such as on double yellow lines or in loading areas.
For Mr Hainey, who works as a company director, the explanation has failed to satisfy his concerns. He believes it is unfair for the authority to continue charging the public to park on the busy street when they cannot enforce the law.
He said: ”The council is displaying double standards here. When someone is fined they have to pay up within a set period but the council in this case know they can’t fine people but they are charging them anyway.”
It was only after a recent chance discussion with a parking attendant that Mr Hainey discovered the problem on Union Street.
He has since called on the authority to place bags over the street’s ticket machines until the issue is sorted. But the council has given no indication it plans to do this.
”The council should not be taking money for drivers when they can’t enforce fines,” he said. ”They are taking money off people when they don’t have the right. It is like paying for a paper boy to deliver the news then nothing arrives.”
He added: ”The parking attendant told me that his managers had said not to ticket vehicles on Union Street. That is what really annoys me because it is clear that the managers know about this but don’t want to tell the public.”
Dundee City Council says recent environmental improvement works to Union Street, which resulted in a change to the parking arrangements, is to blame for the current situation.
A spokesman continued: ”We have placed a traffic order to tidy this anomaly caused by the recent environmental improvements made in Union Street. In the meantime we would ask drivers to park sensibly with consideration for other motorists and pedestrians.
”We are investigating the legal situation surrounding this issue.”